


trouble seeing clear

by timetrees



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Genderfluid Loki (Marvel), Hugs, Nightmares, Prophetic Dreams, Siblings, – implied
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2019-06-22 02:16:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15571506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timetrees/pseuds/timetrees
Summary: “Stop lying. I had a dream.”“Oh?” Loki said, and leaned back on the palms of his hands. “Mother isn’t here. Shall I hold you and tell you it’s all a fiction?”





	trouble seeing clear

**Author's Note:**

> TH/////ORKIS DONT INTERACT

One night, when Loki and Thor were just over four hundred fifty years old, Thor woke up screaming. Odin was out, being a diplomat and a king, and Frigga had fallen ill the night before, so they were alone in their section of the castle.

They hadn’t been roommates in a century, but they lived side by side, the same way they did everything. Thor’s room was the closest to the Great Hall, and Loki’s was closest to the backdoor, which led into a garden, which led into the sea, which led into the void. It was fitting, he would later suppose. He’d belonged to the void for longer than he thought.

Loki heard Thor scream. It was late in the night, or early in the morning, but he was still awake, staring into the mirror and hoping for his reflection to, somehow, change. It didn’t – not yet.

He wasn’t surprised when the door to his room opened and Thor came spilling in. His brother’s face was contorted, like he was trying to stop himself from crying, and his shoulders were raised like a cat’s.

Loki sighed, and turned away from the mirror.

“What _is_ it, you great oaf?” he asked, not quite managing to stop the fondness from showing in his voice. He cleared his throat and tried again, with a gruffer voice; “I’m trying to sleep.”

The lights were all on. He had lit candles. He had been staring into the mirror intently when Thor arrived. He was very obviously not trying to sleep, so Thor’s face fell into a neutral if not confused expression, just at the absurdity of this statement. Loki was almost proud of himself.

“You are not,” he said, and, almost angrily, sat down on the floor opposite Loki. “Stop lying. I had a dream.”

“Oh?” Loki said, and leaned back on the palms of his hands. “Mother isn’t here. Shall I hold you and tell you it’s all a fiction?”

“Shut up,” Thor said. “I’m not doing this with you. Can we be serious right now?”

 _Fine,_ Loki thought, and changed his body language. Sitting forward, frowning, looking concerned – he had it all catalogued away in his brain. It didn’t come easy to him.

“Are you okay?” Loki asked.

“I had a dream,” Thor repeated. “Asgard was in ruins. Everything was– was on fire, we were all on fire.”

Loki thought of Muspelheim, and then of Surtur.

“Just a dream,” he said, opting to not sound concerned. “A sign of an overactive imagination.”

“It’s not,” Thor insisted. “I saw it, it was real. Just because it was in a dream doesn’t mean it’s not real. I…” he looked behind him, as if watching to see if someone could overhear. Silently, Loki cast a spell so that no one would. Just in case.

“Speak, brother,” he said. “No one will hear us,” he added, shooting green sparks from his fingertips just for fun, or maybe to demonstrate that he did indeed know magic.

Thor sighed and drew in on himself. “I’m just scared,” he admitted. “It was so real, brother–” at this, Loki gritted his teeth, but moved on “–and you know Mother dreams of the future, so what if I’ve inherited her gift?”

Even at the thought of this, Loki felt jealousy strike. He pushed it away. Being the second child did not make him lesser. Being pushed aside for Thor’s favor did not make him wrong.

“Perhaps,” he admitted, as much as he hated it. “But would you have a vision that Frigg has not? She’s developed her foreknowledge for thousands of years.”

He didn’t add that perhaps Frigga _had_ seen Thor’s vision, and the knowledge was kept from them, because of course it would be kept from them. They were children. Thor wasn’t the type to think that way, though, so the not-quite-lie rang true to his ears.

Thor seemed pleased by this, though, and slowly nodded his head. He didn’t look entirely convinced, but with more clever words, Loki could calm him down. Thor leaned down to his back, bonking his head on the hard floor as he did so.

“Ow,” Thor said, not sounding pained at all. Loki rolled his eyes and, wondering how you might comfort your older brother upon having a bad dream, leaned on top of him and rested his head on Thor’s chest.

“Thanks,” Thor said. “You’re hurting me.”

“No, I’m not,” Loki said.

“Yes, you are,” Thor replied. “You have your horns on. They’re in my face.”

“...Oops.” Loki didn’t get up.

“Go to Hel.”

“Maybe I will.” Loki sat up, took off his helmet, and laid back down on Thor. “I’m sleeping here now. You can’t get up.”

“You’re a cat,” Thor said. “You’re not a god of mischief, you’re a god of… felines.”

“Or felonies,” Loki said.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No. Don’t commit any felonies.” Thor wrapped an arm around Loki’s back. “Are you okay?”

“Of course. Why? Are you?”

“Besides the dream, I guess. You just always try to hug Mother when you’re sad, and she’s not here, so you’re hugging me.”

“Not true. I’m laying on you. Like a cat.”

Thor sighed. “Okay,” he said, in the aggrieved tone of an older brother who put up with too much. “You don’t have to tell me,” he added, passive aggressively.

“Stop.”

“I’m not doing anything. I’m telling you, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. I won’t tell Mom you’re sad.”

“I’m not sad. _You’re_ sad. You’re dreaming of the apocalypse.”

“Sure, yeah. And you’re hugging me. You never hug me anymore.”

Loki sat up and moved away from Thor, who made a disappointed sound and sat up, too. “I don’t want to talk about it,” Loki said, because even for someone who was basically the god of talking, he had no words for how he was feeling.

“Okay.”

“Really.”

“Okay.”

“I’m going to bed. You can sleep in my bed if you’re scared, or go to Mother and Father’s bed. It probably smells like her.”

“…I’m not a coward.”

“I didn't say you were. I sleep with Mother sometimes, when I don’t want… when I’m not feeling well.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Usually she comes in here, though. Because when I don’t feel well often coincides with, uh, Odin being mad at me.”

“Oh.”

“Go to sleep, Thor. Don’t dream this time.”

“Alright. Love you, brother.”

Loki sighed. “Yes, you too,” he admitted.

They slept dreamlessly.

**Author's Note:**

> i love these brothers. and the fact that thor had prophetic dreams about ragnorak. the whole laying on your brother like a cat when he's upset is taken from real life and if sh*ppers read this i will kill them with my bare hands


End file.
